So the Bureau of Labor Statistics at the Department of Labor reports a gain of 162,000 (down from an estimated 190,000 expected). And it's only the second monthly job gain since late 2007. The "gain" is not enough to lower the headline unemployment rate (9.7%).
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
But government statistics are often manipulated and overly bullish. Gallup finds an underemployment rate of 20.3% (http://www.gallup.com/poll/127091/Underemployment-Rises-March.aspx) and John Williams' shadowstats unemployment is 22%. (http://www.shadowstats.com/)
ADP's report on private payrolls showed that employers slashed 23,000 jobs (when the consensus prediction was a gain of 40,000). (http://www.adpemploymentreport.com/pdf/FINAL_Report_March_10.pdf)
There is still considerable weakness among private employment (and full-time positions in particular). And now that Obamacare burdens employers with employees working over 30 hours a week, fewer positions will be full-time positions. http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/how-the-health-care-law-affects-your-business/
An additional 200,000 Americans are called "marginally attached to the labor force" by the BLS. "They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey."
"Among the marginally attached, there were 1.0 million discouraged workers in March, up by 309,000 from a year earlier."
48,000 of the jobs "gained" were temporary positions for the US Census.
40,000 of the jobs "gained" were for temporary help services.
These 88,000 temporary positions are more than half of the "gains".
Another 27,000 jobs were in healthcare.
So if you want a full-time position in a field other than healthcare or government, the pickings are still rather slim. And the competition is growing as more graduates and immigrants enter the labor force.
There are now more "discouraged workers" and Americans "marginally attached to the labor force" despite the optimistic spin surrounding the latest employment report. This is not time for Democrats to be declaring "mission accomplished."
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All the leftist lying leaves me in a blackened mood....
ReplyDeleteThis is the time for Democrats to be declaring "mission accomplished." The mission was immiseration of the masses and restoration of the despotic state. Demos have succeeded in reversing centuries of American progress.
Arg! that's enough for today. Will sign up to follow.
Bob, you are correct that the goal of the radical left is to increase the dependence of the American people on the State and to cripple the private sector economy. However, the center left - the establishment left - can't be so honest. They have to pretend that the ideas of the far left can somehow be adapted and moderated... and that such a compromise or "balance" is somehow better than the constitutionally limited government the founders intended. In order to mainstream the ideas of the radical left, the establishment left must insist that leftist economic policies are actually aiding the American people... which explains the dishonest reporting of a "recovery" thanks to Keynesian "stimulus".
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